In a recent email my friend Albert expressed some disquieting thoughts concerning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Vladimir Putin is one of the rare heroes in our world today,” he wrote. In a subsequent message he confidently asserted that “by permitting Russia’s neighbors to join NATO, America pushed Putin into invading Ukraine.” Albert seems quite convinced that this justifies the killing of civilians and the devastation of Ukraine’s infrastructure.

Albert’s words remind me of 83 year old Maria, our neighbor some years ago. When I asked about her flight from Ukraine, she said, “My husband and I and our two young children lived on a Collective Farm in southern Ukraine. One day the Communists came when he was on a grain harvesting crew. They accused him of stealing gas. That made no sense, since we didn’t own a car or machinery. Everything belonged to the farm. The next day they returned and took him away. I heard from other workers he had begged the Communists to let him say goodbye to his family. They refused and I never saw him again.”

“When the German Wehrmacht invaded,” she said, “they protected me against further persecution because I spoke German as well as Russian. They couldn’t hold their position though and when they retreated, they took my children and myself along to Germany. I was certain the Russians would punish me for talking with the enemy so we went willingly. Even today I wonder if my husband is alive.”

Like myself, Mary grew up in the Mennonite culture and faith. Our forebears had been invited by Catherine the Great to settle in Ukraine because they were known to be proficient in agriculture. She promised them freedom to practise their faith, speak German, and the right to not serve in the military. In time these commitments were forgotten or ignored. Being pacifists, my grandparents, and many other Mennonites emigrated to Canada in the 1870’s.

Not all Mennonites were given permission to leave and in time they endured great persecution for their beliefs. This increased when Lenin and Stalin achieved power. Possibly this personal connection raises my anxiety level as I observe Vladimir Putin’s current unprovoked attack and harsh strategies in Ukraine. For me they are eerily reminiscent of the Bolshevik reign of terror which started in Lenin’s time and was accelerated under Stalin.

Stalin wanted Ukraine’s rich grain fields to feed the Red Army. To achieve this he sent crews to the farms with orders to seize any food they could discover. If a peasant possessed a cow, horse or farm implements, these were taken. They also removed anything of value in the homes, even food in pots on the stove, and in some instances, entire meals already on the table.

Peasants were compelled to relinquish their holdings, mostly small, and join collective farms. Many refused, especially the more affluent ones, known as kulaks. Often men were arrested and summarily shot while their families watched. In some instances children were undressed and thrown out into the cold. Children and adults starved. In “Red Famine” historian and journalist Anne Applebaum states, “It was a political famine designed to depopulate Ukraine to make room for Russian settlers.” Stalin denied there was a problem.

Peasants, intellectuals, academics, activists and entire villages were sent to remote inhospitable regions. Thousands were shipped in cattle cars to the Gulag, Russia’s infamous prison system. Here many died in the cold and wretched living conditions. According to Robert Conquest in “The Harvest of Sorrows”, approximately 14.5 million Ukrainians and Russians died during these terrifying years. A lot of Mennonites suffered this fate.

Now Vladimir Putin, like Stalin, seems committed to killing civilians to make space for Russians. Also like Stalin, he claims the goal is to liberate Ukraine from Nazis. At the outset, while massing troops along the border, he said he would not invade. His entire military venture since then has been based on fabrications.

It seems Vladimir Putin is employing strategies based on Stalin’s playbook. His troops are raping, maiming, and killing civilians, destroying the country’s infrastructure and using propaganda to create fear and chaos. Inspite of this, Albert apparently sees a halo around Putin’s head. Ukrainians, though, are not deceived. They remember the Hammer and Sickle years and want nothing to do with Putin’s “liberation”.

As strongly urged by our government, Linda and I received the two initial shots of the Covid-19 vaccine in spring, 2021. We were given passports that opened doors to restaurants, gyms, movie theatres and just about any other place we wished to enter. To the extent possible, we observed health department guidelines, including social distancing, masking and washing hands. Living in Hedley, where the virus was kept largely at bay, we felt pretty safe. However, inspite of assurances by our Prime Minister, the WHO, and a variety of powerful entities that the vaccines are safe and effective, I wondered why we and many fellow citizens still felt uneasy.

I first became conscious of the unease when Linda and I met with friends in an Aldergrove restaurant shortly after receiving the passports. A waitress approached with her electronic gadget to record our information. I wondered if this was just to verify that we had received the vaccinations, or was it possibly the precursor of a government surveillance system. The latter has been suggested by some astute political observers. Almost certainly the passports contained a wealth of information about us. Would the government discontinue the passport system if, and when, we achieved victory over the virus? Or is it, as some believe, designed to induce blind obedience when we are given more onerous directives in the future?

An email from Ike, my conspiracy minded friend, was interesting but not helpful. He contended the vaccines are a “Mark of the Beast,” written about by John, an early follower of Jesus. The reference to “the Mark” is in the Biblical book of Revelation, written by the apostle when the Romans banished him to the inhospitable island of Patmos. Ike could not explain how the Revelation prophecy shed light on current developments.

Knowing there have been life ending viruses in the past, I didn’t regret having accepted the initial shots. Even so, I realized I needed to be wary of information offered by contrarian conspiracy minded zealots online. At the same time, I was disturbed by the relentless and uncompromising support by many in the media. For over a year almost every time I turned on the CBC 8 am news, I heard enthusiastic endorsements of vaccines, lockdowns, masking and other restrictive measures. As I became aware of the influence of an abundance of advertising dollars received by major media from pharmaceutical companies, I decided a potent dose of skepticism was required.

I began scrounging for alternative sources of information and learned that some pretty discerning individuals, including respected scientists, journalists and doctors were experiencing a profound disquiet concerning the vaccines and government policies. Some believe the pandemic and the vaccines are part of an insidious, global scheme by a cabal of billionaires and governments to control the people and wealth of the entire world. I recall in my mid teens reading about several highly secretive, politically powerful groups striving diligently behind the scenes to achieve such control. Do they now have the wealth, connections, technology and circumstances needed to achieve their ends?

Robert Kennedy, Jr., son of the late U.S. Attorney General, suggests that government technocrats, billionaire oligarchs, big Pharma, and others in high places love pandemics. “Catastrophic crises,” he contends, “create opportunities of convenience to increase power and wealth.” He reminds us that using crises and chaos to inflame public terror has served as the central strategy by totalitarian systems for millennia.

At the Nuremberg trials, Herman Goring, Hitler’s Luftwaffe commander boasted, “the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is convince them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for exposing their country to greater danger.” Germany was a highly civilized nation with a rich culture. Even so, when the Nazis raised the spectre of threats from Jews, Gypsies and Communists, many educated Germans tolerated, and some participated in, atrocities.

The current pandemic has given huge influence to the World Economic Forum (WEF), a powerful player on the world scene. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a prominent member of this exclusive group. Its members have plans that, if successful, will impact every human. In a November, 2014 Forbes article, Ida Auken, a member of the WEF Leadershship Strategy Team wrote, “Welcome to the year 2030. I don’t own a car, a house, appliances or clothes. Occasionally I’m annoyed because I have no privacy. Nowhere I can go and not be registered. Somewhere everything I do, think and dream of is recorded. I just hope no one will use it against me. But all in all, it’s a good life.”

In “Covid 19: The Great Reset,” Klaus Schwab (founder of the WEF) and Thierry Malleret share their unsettling plans for shaping our lives in the future,

Wherever the truth lies, it’s a time to be informed and vigilant.